1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a heat dissipating member, a heat dissipating mechanism, and an information processing apparatus, and more particularly to a heat dissipating member for transferring heat from a heat generating part to a heat dissipation surface, a heat dissipating mechanism for transferring heat from a heat generating part to a heat dissipation surface, and an information processing apparatus including the heat dissipating mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a forced cooling method and a natural cooling method have been widely used to cool electronic parts mounted on a substrate in an information processing apparatus such as a controller for a device integrated in a system such as a vending machine or a ticket vending machine. In the forced cooling method, cooling air is forcibly supplied to electronic parts with, for example, a cooling fan. On the other hand, in the natural cooling system, an opening is formed on a chassis accommodating electronic parts, and heat from the electronic parts is discharged to the outside of the chassis by heated rising air (convection current).
However, when the forced cooling method is used, a cooling fan is required to be added inside the chassis, thereby increasing the size of the chassis and making it difficult to maintain the quietness of the apparatus due to the noise generated when the cooling fan is operating. On the other hand, when an information processing apparatus using the natural cooling method is installed at a site where no environmental control is practiced such as in the open air, undesirable air currents countering the rising air current may occur, thereby preventing the generated heat from dissipating from the chassis, or foreign material may be introduced into the chassis, thereby damaging the apparatus.
To solve the problems, a third cooling method is proposed. In the cooling method, one surface of a substrate is disposed in the vicinity of the inner wall surface of the chassis and high heat generating parts are mounted on the surface; other parts are mounted on the opposite surface of the substrate so that the heat from the high heat generating parts is transferred to the outside through the chassis working as a heat sink. However, in this method, the substrate is required to be separated from the inner wall surface of the chassis by some distance. Because of this structure, unfortunately, it is difficult to further improve the cooling efficiency. In addition, the substrate is required to be substantially parallel to the inner wall surface of the chassis. Because of this limitation, when plural substrates are required to be disposed in the chassis, the degree of freedom in designing the layout of the substrates is reduced and the size of the apparatus is increased.